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draugadrotten • today at 10:18 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

Chinas expansion of Coal power plants(1), India's behaviour with dirty rivers and pollution, Middle East burning rubber(2) so it is visible from space, etc, are all examples of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory on a global scale.

1. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-coal-power-ri...

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJPxWu0qqiQ


Replies

ShadowOfThePit • today at 11:41 AM

And it gets worse. Like LOOK AT THIS

"the methane emissions alone from Turkmenistan’s two main fossil fuel fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/31/turkmeni...

"The biggest event was a leak of 427 tonnes an hour in August, near Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast and a major pipeline. That single leak was equivalent to the rate of emissions from 67m cars, or the hourly national emissions of France."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/revealed...

roenxi • today at 11:19 AM

Seems like a tough argument to make stick. The Chinese & Indians are clearly benefiting more from the economic growth than they are suffering from the downsides of pollution. They would not swap their current environmental problems for clean poverty.

It isn't a broken windows problem as much as drawing 2 billion people out of poverty is more urgent than most other concerns.

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